By One of the shopkeepers was killed on Wednesday when suspected armed robbers attacked the phone market, also known as Computer village, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
According to information obtained by DAILY POST, an eight-person gang broke into a market in the state capital’s Okelewo district where phones and accessories are sold and fixed.
They opened fire in broad daylight, sending people running for cover.
The gunmen may be followers of a cult group, according to eyewitness speculation.
Later on, though, the businessmen mustered the confidence to pursue their assailants and succeeded in having one of them jailed.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, a spokesman for the Ogun State police, confirmed the incident and said that the police “effectively repulsed the armed robbery group.”
On Thursday morning, Oyeyemi revealed that “at around 5:30 p.m., the armed robbery group rushed the market, started shooting randomly, and carted away valuable phones.”
He said that after receiving a distress call, the Ibara division’s DPO, CSP Abayomi Adeniji, promptly dispatched his anti-robbery and surveillance squads, together with members of the Amotekun corps, to the location.
The police spokesman implied that when the thieves saw the police officers, they engaged them in a gunfight, “but due to the greater shooting power of the policeman, the hoodlums ran to their heels.”
He claimed that the robbers were pursued and that one of them—later identified as Adeniji Sakiru (32 years) old—was killed with the help of the market workers.
Oyeyemi said that “sadly, one Dayo Bankole, a trader in the market, who was shot by the thieves gave up the ghost while undergoing treatment at the General Hospital Ijaye Abeokuta,” confirming that one of the traders had been slain.
He informed reporters that the captured suspect had one double-barreled local gun and “assorted criminal charms” on him.
The suspect has been sent to the State CIID for a covert investigation, under the Commissioner of Police’s instructions.
AIG Frank Mba, the head of the police, also gave the order to find and prosecute the remaining gang members.
He pleaded with hospitals to call the police if they saw somebody who had been shot.
